Quick Links

Club PA 2.0 has arrived! If you'd like to access some extra PA content and help support the forums, check it out at patreon.com/ClubPA

The image size limit has been raised to 1mb! Anything larger than that should be linked to. This is a HARD limit, please do not abuse it.

Our new Indie Games subforum is now open for business in G&T. Go and check it out, you might land a code for a free game. If you're developing an indie game and want to post about it, follow these directions. If you don't, he'll break your legs! Hahaha! Seriously though.

Our rules have been updated and given their own forum. Go and look at them! They are nice, and there may be new ones that you didn't know about! Hooray for rules! Hooray for The System! Hooray for Conforming!

Posts

Our sources also tell us that the next Titanfall will not be a Microsoft exclusive. The original Titanfall was exclusive to Microsoft platforms: Xbox 360, Xbox One and Windows PC.

I hate giving these clowns hits, but this rumor was posted on Polygon. You have to release on the most successfull console to chase the COD dream, so I can't exactly say I'm surprised if this ends up being true.

Although it's not really a Microsoft exclusive in that statement, since Respawn's looking into doing a OSX version.

There's probably more details to this, but wow on the face this looks like a great licensing deal. The cost of development tools has never been lower.

5% for Epic and 30% for Steam/Apple/Google. Attractive for new people indeed but veterans might have different input.

That 30% fee isn't a development fee, though, that's publishing. Good luck finding a publisher in the traditional model that's willing to give you the sort of visibility that those platforms provide while charging less than 30% of your revenue.

I just wonder how much the costs would add up for multiple machines using Unreal 4 over time.

XBL - ArchSilversmith

"We have years of struggle ahead, mostly within ourselves." - Made in USA

There's probably more details to this, but wow on the face this looks like a great licensing deal. The cost of development tools has never been lower.

5% for Epic and 30% for Steam/Apple/Google. Attractive for new people indeed but veterans might have different input.

That 30% fee isn't a development fee, though, that's publishing. Good luck finding a publisher in the traditional model that's willing to give you the sort of visibility that those platforms provide while charging less than 30% of your revenue.

I just wonder how much the costs would add up for multiple machines using Unreal 4 over time.

It's just 5% of your gross revenue (plus the $20 monthly fee) if you license UE4 through this method. The number of machines that you develop on doesn't matter.

Their EULA FAQ is pretty comprehensive. They also offer custom licensing, which would look a lot more like the traditional model to licensing the engine.

edit: To make it very clear, though, if you are looking to publish on console you will still need to go through the more traditional licensing options. This is mostly because they have legal agreements in place with Microsoft/Sony that would prevent them from sharing platform-specific code with anyone that happens to have $20.

I doubt that Microsoft would pass up the chance to make a lot more money by having PS4 games run on the Azure network. If the stuff runs on PC, it would certainly be adjustable to run on Azure from PS4s.

And if they did keep Sony stuff off that network, I would have to wonder if that was even legal to exclude people from a communication network like that if they're willing to pay the contract rates.

They could absolutely deny access to the Azure servers, and I'm sure they will if it comes down to that. One of the distinguishing features of their console in the marketplace is the superior network platform.

Microsoft absolutely would not deny access to the Azure servers. There's more money to be made there.

I doubt that Microsoft would pass up the chance to make a lot more money by having PS4 games run on the Azure network. If the stuff runs on PC, it would certainly be adjustable to run on Azure from PS4s.

And if they did keep Sony stuff off that network, I would have to wonder if that was even legal to exclude people from a communication network like that if they're willing to pay the contract rates.

They could absolutely deny access to the Azure servers, and I'm sure they will if it comes down to that. One of the distinguishing features of their console in the marketplace is the superior network platform.

Microsoft absolutely would not deny access to the Azure servers. There's more money to be made there.

The big dips are investment in infrastructure... they had to roll out a LOT of metal in those years... and there are quite a few paying customers already, which are supplying some revenue.

All of that said, I think it would be a win for Microsoft if lots of games on the PS4 had developers paying into Azure to host their servers, just like it is a win for Microsoft when people pay for Office365 so they can use excel on their iPad.

Now, having it cost more to host a game on Azure from a non-Microsoft platform seems like a given; they are giving a ridiculously good rate (and in some cases free access) to Azure processing to indy and AAA developers alike. I doubt they will be so lenient for use of the service on a competing platform.

The Azure people have been very good with embracing open source software, though quite possibly because they would have no chance of competing with Amazon Web Services if they only supported Microsoft technologies. Still, this does suggest that they would have enough autonomy to make decisions regardless of what the Xbox team wants

The Azure people have been very good with embracing open source software, though quite possibly because they would have no chance of competing with Amazon Web Services if they only supported Microsoft technologies. Still, this does suggest that they would have enough autonomy to make decisions regardless of what the Xbox team wants

The xbox team is possibly the smallest cog in the Azure machine for Microsoft. It's a really great thing they built for reasons having nothing to do with xbox, but could be leveraged nicely since it already exists.

Azure supporting Exchange, Office 365 and enterprise applications is where the money is and what will dictate future functionality of the platform.

just a fantastic speech was given by Manveer Heir a dev at bioware for mass effect on social injustice in video games where he challenges developers to stop with the misogyny, sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, nationalism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, queerphobia and other types of social injustices

I got some free credit with azure for my startup recentl by being in bizspark, and the amount of cool stuff an indie developers can use it for is awesome. There's already tons of resources to utilize it with unity for things like leaderboards. So from the POV of a small developer, it seem kinda awesome to me.

Actually, that's something I didn't see discussed before... Did anyone else know that Microsoft will give small startup game developers a msdn subscription if they are approved for bizspark? And around $150 worth of azure credit per month, as well as help finding investments and a good number o other goodies? I know it's just to build brand loyalty as far as your development environment, but it's a pretty big deal as far as a developer just getting on their feet.

That is me playing with my wife recording. 4:30 for the freak out. Warning: much cursing.

So I must admit, I was getting annoyed by all the Oculus Rift talk the last few pages. This wasn't for me, I wasn't interested, same arguments, blah blah.

Then I saw these 2 videos, and I watched some more on youtube. I want one now. I love horror movies and stuff like that, and am not afraid to admit that I do get scared and will jump at jump scenes and stuff. This looks like it may be too much, and could give me a heart attack, but it looks amazing. You are in a horror movie kind of, yet playing a game. I watched this video and the concept just seems amazing

Game developer and publisher Crytek today announced the launch of its "Engine-as-a-Service" (EaaS) program, making its revolutionary CRYENGINE technology accessible to a vast new audience.

CRYENGINE gives users access to the same award-winning toolset that was used to create Crytek's Ryse: Son of Rome, and equips them to develop outstanding games across all of today's leading platforms.

As a first tier of its new program, Crytek has revealed that from May this year, indie developers will be able to use all of CRYENGINE's cutting-edge features for a monthly subscription fee of 9,90 USD/EUR per user - royalty free. Those features include the recently announced addition of CRYENGINE features such as Physically Based Shading, Geometry Cache and Image Based Lighting - an upgrade already shown in action by Crytek at this year's GDC conference in San Francisco.

More details about the game-changing opportunities on offer to developers as part of the program will be announced in the near future. The CRYENGINE free SDK will continue to be available under its current terms but developers wanting to take advantage of the new features of CRYENGINE will need to subscribe to the new EaaS-Program.

Crytek's Director of Business Development , Carl Jones, said: "When we announced the new CRYENGINE this was our first step towards creating an engine as a service. We are happy to announce now that the latest update of CRYENGINE will soon be available to all developers on a subscription basis. We are really excited to make CRYENGINE available to hundreds of thousands of developers working with Crytek to make awesome games.”

The launch of the CRYENGINE as-a-service program expands Crytek's online service portfolio, continuing on from their step into self-publishing with free-to-play online FPS, Warface.

For more information visit www.cryengine.com

I've always had a soft spot for CryEngine, even though people always said it was a bit difficult to work with. A lot of the new features that people brag about for UE4, they had back in CE2(.5) half a decade ago, like the ability to drop into a level from the editor to see how it works, at will. Or the ability to run it simultaneously in real time across all the supported platforms using the same inputs

just a fantastic speech was given by Manveer Heir a dev at bioware for mass effect on social injustice in video games where he challenges developers to stop with the misogyny, sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, nationalism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, queerphobia and other types of social injustices

I dunno. His argument kind of falls flat when he cites Papers, Please. There wouldn't be much of a game there without those things he's challenging devs to remove.

If publishers spend less on advertising for games that have a lead character that is not a white male, then yeah, that's something that needs to change, but the key to any good story is conflict and all of these things he lauds are great complicated sources of conflict. If you remove them, you potentially dumb your conflicts down to pre-school levels of good v. evil.

He's not saying 'dont make papers please', hes not saying anything about that type of game. He's just relating that papers please put you in a role in which you did these things without thinking about them, which then pushes these norms on the industry. As a developer, you are like that gate guard, receiving info from designers/publishers saying 'nah, make this protag white instead it will sell better'. He want's an industry that is going to stand up and call bullshit on (what he feels are) generic statements like 'female protagonists wont sell'.

You can have games that directly address conflicts like racism/sexism/sexuality (see his gay soldier coming out to his fellow soldiers example), he want's to remove the stigma surrounding ignoring/avoiding these things, or treating them badly on false justifications.

But, I must say, good luck trying this when you dont control the money. The reason Papers, please exists is because it didn't need to sell 6 hojillion copies.

Mysogyny and sexism, I get. And I guess all the military FPSs are guilty of nationalism, but I can't think of any recent big name releases that are guilty of casually slipping any of those themes into the games. Though, I've never heard of ethnocentrism before, so if that's prevalent in a lot of games then that's ignorance on my part.

Skull2185 on March 2014

Everyone has a price. Throw enough gold around and someone will risk disintegration.

Mysogyny and sexism, I get. And I guess all the military FPSs are guilty of nationalism, but I can't think of any recent big name releases that are guilty of casually slipping any of those themes into the games. Though, I've never heard of ethnocentrism before, so if that's prevalent in a lot of games then that's ignorance on my part.

The silliest thing I can think of, only because we talk about it in steam chat, is the ace attorney series Americanizes everything to take place in LA,CA. To the point when you got to a 'small remote mountain village' and the game refers to it as 'a commune filled with asian immigrants' or something like that.

There's a great comic for it:

I guess this is just plain old whitewashing, maybe? I always get terms confused.

If publishers spend less on advertising for games that have a lead character that is not a white male, then yeah, that's something that needs to change, but the key to any good story is conflict and all of these things he lauds are great complicated sources of conflict. If you remove them, you potentially dumb your conflicts down to pre-school levels of good v. evil.

For their sake these social engineers better hope the aliens don't arrive, the dead don't rise and the robots don't become sentient. I doubt either group would be happy with the way videogames treat them.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf has sold 7.38 million copies worldwide, according to the series' creator.

Speaking at this week's GDC conference, series creator Katsuya Eguchi revealed the figure, which means the handheld title is currently outselling other triple-A titles like Naughty Dog's The Last of Us.

The game has managed to rack up these numbers in under a year, seeing as it released last June in the West, to very positive reviews. It first launched in Japan in November 2012.

If publishers spend less on advertising for games that have a lead character that is not a white male, then yeah, that's something that needs to change, but the key to any good story is conflict and all of these things he lauds are great complicated sources of conflict. If you remove them, you potentially dumb your conflicts down to pre-school levels of good v. evil.

For their sake these social engineers better hope the aliens don't arrive, the dead don't rise and the robots don't become sentient. I doubt either group would be happy with the way videogames treat them.

Animal Crossing: New Leaf has sold 7.38 million copies worldwide, according to the series' creator.

Speaking at this week's GDC conference, series creator Katsuya Eguchi revealed the figure, which means the handheld title is currently outselling other triple-A titles like Naughty Dog's The Last of Us.

The game has managed to rack up these numbers in under a year, seeing as it released last June in the West, to very positive reviews. It first launched in Japan in November 2012.

I knew Animal Crossing was big when I was playing it on the bus and two teenage girls behind me said, "Ooh, is that Animal Crossing? That's the game everyone's playing! We should get that!"

Animal Crossing's market would be waaaay bigger than TLOU and similar AAA titles. Anyone could pick it up and enjoy it, (hopefully) only people over 17 are playing TLOU, assuming it's a M rated game. AC is a game that I would expect anyone's mom or grandparents could play, TLOU et al not so much.

It ain't my cup of tea, but all my pals played AC when they had Nintendo platforms, and they were all men in their 30s at the time.

just a fantastic speech was given by Manveer Heir a dev at bioware for mass effect on social injustice in video games where he challenges developers to stop with the misogyny, sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, nationalism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, queerphobia and other types of social injustices

That's great, now let's see who is on the box cover of ME:whatever and Dragon Age:Inq. I basically agree with the guy, but my expectation is that the cogs can squeak all they want and the machine itself is going the Hollywood route of few to no female leads over ~35, lots of white people, guys with guns on posters. I don't want you to think that's what I *want* that, but rather, that's what I expect. Games make big money and have big budgets, and I fully expect a lot of people see it as a new Hollywood and they're getting in while it's relatively young. Hollywood to me has pretty faithfully followed that path, and I expect the games industry to do the same. (That's not to say that you don't have your exceptions, but we're talking about an industry where in one movie Sally Field played Tom Hanks love interest and then years later played his mom.)

just a fantastic speech was given by Manveer Heir a dev at bioware for mass effect on social injustice in video games where he challenges developers to stop with the misogyny, sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, nationalism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, queerphobia and other types of social injustices

That's great, now let's see who is on the box cover of ME:whatever and Dragon Age:Inq. I basically agree with the guy, but my expectation is that the cogs can squeak all they want and the machine itself is going the Hollywood route of few to no female leads over ~35, lots of white people, guys with guns on posters. I don't want you to think that's what I *want* that, but rather, that's what I expect. Games make big money and have big budgets, and I fully expect a lot of people see it as a new Hollywood and they're getting in while it's relatively young. Hollywood to me has pretty faithfully followed that path, and I expect the games industry to do the same. (That's not to say that you don't have your exceptions, but we're talking about an industry where in one movie Sally Field played Tom Hanks love interest and then years later played his mom.)

Remember this is the same company that was lauded for being progressive because they had PC-sexual romances

Dragon's age actually has fairly progressive sexual adventurism for their pcs (something that lead to a bit of a tiff between DA's lead writer and ME's). Mass Effect not so much until ME3, but still a far sight better than a lot of other video game franchises.

Bioware is not full on Girls as far as progressive attitudes, but its pretty far ahead of most other studios.

I would like some money because these are artisanal nuggets of wisdom philistine.

just a fantastic speech was given by Manveer Heir a dev at bioware for mass effect on social injustice in video games where he challenges developers to stop with the misogyny, sexism, racism, ethnocentrism, nationalism, ageism, ableism, homophobia, transphobia, queerphobia and other types of social injustices

That's great, now let's see who is on the box cover of ME:whatever and Dragon Age:Inq. I basically agree with the guy, but my expectation is that the cogs can squeak all they want and the machine itself is going the Hollywood route of few to no female leads over ~35, lots of white people, guys with guns on posters. I don't want you to think that's what I *want* that, but rather, that's what I expect. Games make big money and have big budgets, and I fully expect a lot of people see it as a new Hollywood and they're getting in while it's relatively young. Hollywood to me has pretty faithfully followed that path, and I expect the games industry to do the same. (That's not to say that you don't have your exceptions, but we're talking about an industry where in one movie Sally Field played Tom Hanks love interest and then years later played his mom.)

Remember this is the same company that was lauded for being progressive because they had PC-sexual romances

Baby steps...

I have more to say on the subject of sexism and ethnocentrism in games, but I doubt you all would want to hear it.

Dragon's age actually has fairly progressive sexual adventurism for their pcs (something that lead to a bit of a tiff between DA's lead writer and ME's). Mass Effect not so much until ME3, but still a far sight better than a lot of other video game franchises.

Bioware is not full on Girls as far as progressive attitudes, but its pretty far ahead of most other studios.

Maybe, but they're not nearly as progressive as they think they are. Especially Gaider

The panel wasn't about pointing fingers, it was a call to arms. He encouraged everyone to do whatever they can to make a difference, no matter what the publishing model is. No matter what youtube comments say.